Wireless Transmitting Non-volatile Memory for an Image Capturing Device

ABSTRACT

The present invention includes a wireless transmitting non-volatile memory for an image capturing device includes a memory array; a circuits coupled to said memory array; an input/output interface coupled to said memory array circuits; a wireless transmitting module coupled to said input/output interface; wherein said wireless transmitting non-volatile memory is used to store an image captured by said image capturing device and is separable from said image capturing device; wherein a mobile phone having a pair-wise application for pairing with said wireless transmitting non-volatile memory for sharing said image by wireless transmission, thereby transmitting said image from said wireless transmitting non-volatile memory to said mobile phone to share image by wireless.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The application is a continuation application of application Ser. No.11/724,262, filed on Mar. 15 2007, which is a continuation-in-partapplication of application Ser. No. 11/011,465 filed on Dec. 13, 2004,which are claimed in their integrity.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates generally to a sharing system for aportable device.

BACKGROUND

Digital cameras have become available. These cameras normally rely uponthe utilization of a charged coupled device (CCD) or CMOS sensor tosense an image. The camera normally includes storage media for thestorage of the sensed scenes in addition to a connector for the transferof images to a computer device for subsequent manipulation and printingout. The photodiode in the image sensor generates electric charges usingabsorbed light, converts the generated electric charges into an analogcurrent. The read-out circuit converts the analog signal into a digitalsignal and outputs the signal.

A problem arisen from the digital camera is that the captured image canbe displayed on the camera only. It cannot be viewed in another deviceunless output the image via cable to the computer. It is inconvenient tothe consumer.

It would therefore be desirable to provide a method for sharing theimage captured by the digital camera or smart phone.

SUMMARY

The present invention provides many additional advantages which shallbecome apparent as described below.

The object of the present invention is to provide a sharing method by anon-volatile memory with an embedded wireless transmitting module.

The object of the present invention is to provide an image sharingmethod between a first portable device with an image capturing deviceand a second portable device, the second portable device including amobile phone or a computing device, the method includes steps ofproviding the image capturing device with a wireless transmittingnon-volatile memory, wherein the image capturing device includes a firstdisplay, and wherein the wireless transmitting non-volatile memory isused to store an image captured by the image capturing device andincludes embedded wireless transmitting module, and the wirelesstransmitting non-volatile memory is separable from the image capturingdevice, the wireless transmitting non-volatile memory including asharing mode for sharing the image; providing the portable device havinga second display and a control unit, a pair-wise application coupling tothe control unit for pairing with the wireless transmitting non-volatilememory for sharing the image by wireless transmission; pairing betweenthe wireless transmitting non-volatile memory and the portable device bythe pair-wise application; transmitting the image from the wirelesstransmitting non-volatile memory to the portable device to share imageby wireless; and displaying the shared image on the second display ofthe portable device.

The wireless transmitting non-volatile memory includes FLASH memory, andthe embedded wireless transmitting module includes WiFi or WiMax module.The second portable device includes WiFi or WiMax module and RF module.The system further includes an illumination device set in the chamber toprovide the illumination for the image capturing device. Theillumination device includes LED, IR-ray. The image capturing deviceincludes CCD, or CMOS sensor. The display includes, but not limited toLCD panel, plasma display panel, LED display panel, FED display panel,EL panel, OEL and OLED panel. The memory includes a control unit; afirst type memory and a second type memory coupled to the control unit;an interface coupled to the control unit for I/O and an embedded systemcoupled to the control unit to determine or assign the duty of the firsttype memory and the second type memory.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

FIG. 1A shows a function diagram according to the present invention.

FIG. 1B shows a function diagram according to the present invention.

FIG. 1C (a) and (b) show the wireless memory according to the presentinvention.

FIG. 1C (c) shows the hybrid non-volatile memory according to thepresent invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following description is provided to enable any person skilled inthe art to make and use the invention. Various modifications, however,will remain readily apparent to those skilled in the art, since thegeneric principles of the present invention have been defined hereinspecifically to provide an overall method and devices for a food storagetracking system. FIGS. 1A and 1B show an illustration and a blockdiagram of the present invention. Almost of the elements and descriptionof Please refer to FIGS. 1A and 1B, a memory 22 a is provided with anembedded wireless transmitting/receiving module 30 a and a control unit110 a is coupled to the memory 22 a with the wirelesstransmitting/receiving module 30 a to process the command, signal andinstruction from the user. A display panel 18 a is equipped and coupledto the control unit 110 a. The wireless memory 18 includes the memory 22a, the control unit 110 a and the wireless transmitting/receiving module30 a, it may refer to wireless storage device or wireless memory. One ormore image capturing device 20 a is set and the image capturing deviceand illumination device can be incorporated in a case 16 of a portabledevice with the image capturing device 20 a. The image capturing device20 a is electrically (or optically) coupled to the display panel 18 a,control circuits 110 a. The image capturing device 20 a is set in thecase 16. An illumination device 26 a is set to provide the illuminationfor the image capturing device 20 a when the environment is dark for theimage capturing device 20 a takes an image or shooting. The imagecapturing device 20 a and the illumination device 26 a could be built-intogether. The image capturing device 20 a could capture the image,therefore, the image of the items could be taken or shot by the imagecapturing device 20 a. The image capturing device 20 a could be, forexample, CCD, or CMOS sensor. The illumination device 26 a could be LED,IR ray source or the like. When the image capturing device 20 a is on,the image can be captured and send it to the display panel 18 a, therebydisplaying captured image in the form of video or picture on the display18 a. In one embodiment, a LCD screen is provided for the display panelto display. Other type display could also be used such as plasma displaypanel, LED display panel, FED display panel, EL panel, OEL and OLEDpanel. A low-power CMOS (complementary metal oxide semiconductor)microprocessor with integral FLASH maybe employed. A molded plastic casefor the screen encloses the circuit board. Power is provided by wiredpower source or batteries. The image capturing device 20 a includes acharged coupled device (referred to as “CCD”) or CMOS. Further, theimage capturing device 20 a has the zoom-in and zoom-out functionscontrolled by the user. Memory 22 a refers to nonvolatile memory ormagnetic storage device, for example hard disk. The memory 22 a iscoupled to the image capturing device 20 a for storing a captured datasuch as single frame image or video data, wires are used to connect thecontrol circuits 110 a, power source and the display 18 a. The memorycould be FLASH. Corresponding driving circuits may be incorporated intoor separated from the control circuits 110 a. The flash memory could bereplaced by other NVM (non-volatile memory) such as NROM (nitride-ROM),SONOS or MRAM, FRAM. An interface 24 a coupled to the control circuits110 a may be provided to the wireless storage device 18 for transferringdata. The wireless transmission/receiving module 30 a can perform suchfunction as well. Under the architecture, the wireless storage device 18may refer to a wireless Flash memory card or drive. The wireless storagedevice 18 can act as the separated data storage for other device such ascomputer, notebook, tablet, mobile phone, digital camera, PDA, mediumplayer. The wireless Flash card may be separable from the portabledevice. Please be noted that the wireless storage device 18 may beinserted into the computer, notebook, tablet, mobile phone, digitalcamera, PDA, medium player. The image capturing device 20 a is availableto catch image of an object. Another embodiment of the present inventionfurther includes a wireless or wired transmission/receiving module 30 acoupled to the image capturing device 20 a and the control circuit 110a. The wireless or wired transmission/receiving module 30 a could be setadjacent to the display panel 18 a. It should be noted, it is not theonly way to set the wireless or wired transmission/receiving module. Thetransmission/receiving module could be the wirelesstransmission/receiving module that is compatible with blue-tooth,802.11, WiFi, WiMAX standard. The transmission domain (the air) bynature is not secured and therefore pair-wise matching maybe necessaryin the wireless transport networks. In one embodiment, pair-wise(encryption/decryption)procedure between every neighboring wirelessnetwork device of a wireless transport network is needed. A data framethat leaves from one wireless device from one end of a wirelesstransport network to the other end of the same network might needseveral encryptions and decryptions before it reaches its finaldestination. Furthermore, a group key for a broadcast or a multicastdata frame maybe needed in addition to pair-wise encryption keys. An APmay be needed for WiFi device to couple to the internet network. In apreferred embodiment, take the RF module as an example, as known in theart, the RF (wireless transmission/receiving) module includes an antennaconnected to a transceiver which is used to receive and transmit signal.As know, the RF module may further include, base band processing unit,DSP and A/D converter. Due to the RF module is not the feature of thepresent invention, therefore, the detailed description is omitted. Thecaptured image can be transmitted through the RF module 30 by operationfrequency while the image capturing device is in function. The RF modulecould be compatible with 3G or 4G standard. The captured result can besend to a another user terminal 32 with a wireless transceiver (wirelesstransmitting and receiving module) 32 a and a display screen 32 b,thereby allowing the user to share the image. The user terminal 32 couldbe, such as computer system, portable device (cellular), PDA, notebook,smart phone or TV set. The signal could be transmitted or receivedthrough wireless transmission. In another case, the transmission isachieved through WiMAX network or WiFi. The instruction is sent via thewired network or wireless network through WLAN. If the WiFi is used, thedata maybe transferred through wireless.

If the user terminal 32 includes a cellular, a further RF module 32 gmaybe incorporated into the terminal 32 for transmitting and receivingcommunication data. The signal is transmitted from a user terminal 32 tothe image capturing device through the mobile phone network by RF module32 g or the transmission/receiving module 32 a. It could be transmittedby a 3G or higher level protocol or standard. Alternatively, it could betransmitted by wireless transmitting and receiving module with WiFi,WiMAX, 902.11 or Bluetooth specification. The control circuit 110 a willsent the captured image to the user another terminal 32 through thewireless transmitting and receiving module 30 a and received by thewireless transmitting and receiving module 32 a, as shown in FIG. 1A.Alternatively, the present invention may access the data or captureddata stored in the memory 22 a from the remote terminal. The userterminal 32 such as mobile phone, may sent a signal to the devicethrough wireless transmitting and receiving module 32 a and received bythe wireless transmitting and receiving module 30 a, followed by sendingthe signal to the control circuits 110 a. The control circuits 110 a mayfetch the required data stored in the memory 22 a and send the requireddata to the remote terminal 32 wirelessly.

If there are pluralities of device under control, the user may remotecontrol each device as shown in FIG. 1B. The connection managercoordinates communication between WiMAX or WiFi wireless communicationprotocol and facilitate communication over the wireless communicationnetwork. An application is able to coordinate and establish acommunication path over WiMAX wireless network for purposes oftransferring data. In order to access the data from a remote distance,it prefers that the storage device can be accessed wireless or the datastored therein can be transferred wireless from a remote terminal. Thus,the present invention provides a wireless storage device such as harddisk or flash drive as shown in FIG. 1C (a), the wireless storage 18scheme can be referred to FIG. 1A. The wireless hard disk drive or flashdrive can be accessed by wireless control from separated device. Thewireless transmitting/receiving module 460 maybe coupled to the controlunit for wireless data transfer. Preferably, share mode application 450coupled to the control unit 400 is required to achieve the purpose. Theapplication 450 maybe software, hardware or firmware used to share theinformation through air. In one case, it may be a sharing module orprogram. The cross-platform file and print sharing made easy, it is asharing module. The application is a solution for sharing between thedifferent devices or platforms, with bi-directional, allowing device tobrowse file in the wireless storage device through air, as well as shareyour images for others to access. Optionally, the present invention alsoprovides a hard disk drive having a Flash memory, as shown in FIG. 1C(b) to have the benefits of both. The hard disk drive includes a controlunit 400 coupled to an interface 410 and a magnetic disk module havingspindle driver 420, reading/writing head mechanism and so on. This iswell-known in the art, the description is omitted. A flash controller440 is coupled to the control unit 400 and a nonvolatile memory 430 iscoupled to the flash controller 440. An application 450 is coupled tothe control unit to execute the instruction. A wirelesstransmitting/receiving module 460 maybe coupled to the control unit forwireless data transfer. The wireless hard drive incorporates the flashmemory into the device to yield the benefit of high-speed access and lowpower consumption. The hard disk drive maybe incorporated into portablemedia player, cellular, notebook or PDA. A controller 440 is connectedto the flash memory 430 to operate the mode under instruction or commandThe operation mode includes read mode, write mode, erase mode, andprogramming mode. The controller 430 is capable to process the USBprotocol if the interface includes USB interface. Further, thecontroller 440 maybe integrated into the control unit 400 under theknowledge and technology of integrated circuits. An embedded system 470is optionally stored in the erasable/programmable storage medium (flash,ROM or hard disk). It could be OS, simplified OS, an application,software or a list of computer-executable instructions. The embeddedsystem 470 is preferably in a ROM (read only memory) 480 and is anotherindividual memory array separated from the Flash array and coupled tothe control unit 400. Alternatively, the ROM 480 may be embedded in thecontrol unit. The data coded in the ROM will not be erased by the user.The embedded system 470 could be provided for a computer or device toexecute predetermined function such as operating some application,booting the device, auto backup or auto-run file. In general, after adevice is power on, basic input/output system will perform a bootsequence before invoking the OS. Basic input/output system is set in theROM. During the procedure, the BIOS will detect the priority of the bootup application. The user may set the BISO so as to let the device isboot up by an application stored in a floppy, CD-ROM, DVD drive or otherI/O port coupled with a periphery device. In one application of thepresent invention, we may set the system to be booted by the USB portcoupled with the USB drive cording to the present invention. The modulecould act as “key” for the device. The programmer or instruction can beset in the embedded system to determine what type of data will be storedinto what type of storage (flash or hard disk). It could be used fordifferent type of volatile memory having NOR type and NAND type. In oneembodiment, the embedded system 470 is OS or simplified OS. The embeddedsystem is coupled to the control unit to determine or assign the duty ofthe magnetic disk module 420 and the nonvolatile memory 430. The flashbenefits high speed performance, low power consumption while hard diskdrive yields lower cost. The storage architecture refers toComplementary Storage Device (CSD). The CSD has the benefits of the bothtype of memory. The manufacture may reduce the cost and increase theperformance by incorporating the two kind of memory with an optimizedmemory ratio between the flash memory and the magnetic memory. Thecomposition of the CDS may follow the following rules to achieve thepurpose and the memory ratio maybe fall within the range list below. Thecalculated method is not the concern of the present invention, thepresent invention try to predict the ratio range.

Please refer to FIG. 1C(c), the present invention may apply tosemiconductor non-volatile memories comprising an array of non-volatilememory cells arranged in a plurality of rows and columns can becharacterized as operating either in a NAND mode of operation or a NORmode of operation. Typically, NAND memory cells are programmed or readto operate in a page mode manner in which a page of data (typically 512bytes) is stored in a plurality of page buffers that are integrated withthe memory circuit device. During programming, a page of data isexternally supplied to the NAND device and is stored in the page buffer.From the page buffer, the data is then stored in the NAND cells. Incontrast, in a NOR mode of operation, different bytes within the NORarray can be randomly accessed, read or programmed. The differencebetween the two types is that NOR operation is for random access read orprogram of a small amount of data faster compared to a NAND program orread operation. NAND operation of program or read is faster thancompared to a NOR mode of operation. Conventional flash EEPROMsemiconductor memory devices are implemented as either a NOR array or aNAND array. However, a NAND array can advantageously use the tunnelingmechanism for both erasing and programming This provides a much fastererasure than NOR arrays. Thus, while access times are faster in a NORarray, NOR arrays are typically dedicated to applications which requireminimal erasure and programming NAND arrays are suited for storingnon-boot code used for data/file manipulation. A storage devicecomprises a substrate 530; control circuits 520 formed on the substrate530 to control the reading, writing and erasing of memory cells of thestorage device; and a nonvolatile memory array formed on the substrate530 including NAND type memory array 500 and a NOR type memory array 510coupled to the control circuits.

As will be understood by persons skilled in the art, the foregoingpreferred embodiment of the present invention is illustrative of thepresent invention rather than limiting the present invention. Havingdescribed the invention in connection with a preferred embodiment,modification will now suggest itself to those skilled in the art. Thus,the invention is not to be limited to this embodiment, but rather theinvention is intended to cover various modifications and similararrangements included within the spirit and scope of the appendedclaims, the scope of which should be accorded the broadestinterpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and similarstructures. While the preferred embodiment of the invention has beenillustrated and described, it will be appreciated that various changescan be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of theinvention.

I claim:
 1. A wireless transmitting non-volatile memory for an imagecapturing device comprising: a memory array; a circuits coupled to saidmemory array; an input/output interface coupled to said memory arraycircuits; a wireless transmitting module coupled to said input/outputinterface; wherein said wireless transmitting non-volatile memory isused to store an image captured by said image capturing device and isseparable from said image capturing device; wherein a mobile phonehaving a pair-wise application for pairing with said wirelesstransmitting non-volatile memory for sharing said image by wirelesstransmission, thereby transmitting said image from said wirelesstransmitting non-volatile memory to said mobile phone to share image bywireless.
 2. A wireless transmitting non-volatile memory of claim 1,wherein said wireless transmitting non-volatile memory includes FLASHmemory.
 3. A wireless transmitting non-volatile memory claim 1, whereinsaid embedded wireless transmitting module includes WiFi module.
 4. Awireless transmitting non-volatile memory of claim 1, wherein saidmobile phone includes WiFi module.
 5. A wireless transmittingnon-volatile memory of claim 1, wherein said mobile phone includes RFmodule.
 6. A wireless transmitting non-volatile memory of claim 1,wherein said wireless transmitting module includes RF module.
 7. Awireless transmitting non-volatile memory of claim 1, wherein saidwireless transmitting non-volatile memory includes hybrid memory module.8. A wireless transmitting non-volatile memory of claim 1, wherein saidwireless transmitting non-volatile memory includes a sharing mode.
 9. Awireless transmitting non-volatile memory for an image capturing devicecomprising: a memory array; a circuits coupled to said memory array; aninput/output interface coupled to said memory array circuits; a wirelesstransmitting module coupled to said input/output interface; wherein saidwireless transmitting non-volatile memory is used to store an imagecaptured by said image capturing device and is separable from said imagecapturing device, wherein said wireless transmitting non-volatile memoryincludes FLASH memory; wherein a mobile phone having a pair-wiseapplication for pairing with said wireless transmitting non-volatilememory for sharing said image by wireless transmission, therebytransmitting said image from said wireless transmitting non-volatilememory to said mobile phone to share image by wireless.
 10. A wirelesstransmitting non-volatile memory claim 9, wherein said wirelesstransmitting module includes WiFi module.
 11. A wireless transmittingnon-volatile memory of claim 9, wherein said mobile phone includes WiFimodule.
 12. A wireless transmitting non-volatile memory of claim 9,wherein said mobile phone includes RF module.
 13. A wirelesstransmitting non-volatile memory of claim 9, wherein said wirelesstransmitting module includes WiFi module.
 14. A wireless transmittingnon-volatile memory of claim 9, wherein said wireless transmittingnon-volatile memory includes hybrid memory module.
 15. A wirelesstransmitting non-volatile memory of claim 9, wherein said wirelesstransmitting non-volatile memory includes a sharing mode.
 16. A wirelesstransmitting non-volatile memory for an image capturing devicecomprising: a memory array; a circuits coupled to said memory array; aninput/output interface coupled to said memory array circuits; a WiFitransmitting module coupled to said input/output interface; wherein saidwireless transmitting non-volatile memory is used to store an imagecaptured by said image capturing device and is separable from said imagecapturing device, wherein said wireless transmitting non-volatile memoryincludes FLASH memory; wherein a mobile phone having a pair-wiseapplication for pairing with said wireless transmitting non-volatilememory for sharing said image by WiFi transmission, thereby transmittingsaid image from said wireless transmitting non-volatile memory to saidmobile phone to share image by wireless.
 17. A wireless transmittingnon-volatile memory of claim 16, wherein said mobile phone includes WiFimodule.
 18. A wireless transmitting non-volatile memory of claim 16,wherein said mobile phone includes RF module.
 19. A wirelesstransmitting non-volatile memory of claim 16, wherein said wirelesstransmitting module includes RF module.
 20. A wireless transmittingnon-volatile memory of claim 16, wherein said wireless transmittingnon-volatile memory includes a sharing mode.